There's so much I want to say about the Schiavo case yet most of it is... shall we say... better left unsaid. Suffice it to say that this whole issue is seriously ticking me off, and I find it incredible that in America tonight a woman whose persistent vegetative state is questioned by some doctors, whose life support consisted merely of a food tube (and not a respirator or a heart machine or some other technical means of keeping her alive) is being starved and dehydrated until she dies.
Tomorrow I face some surgery (minor stuff to remove a lump that has been growing underneath my right lower rib cage) and as part of the routine I must fast until after the surgery which doesn't take place till nearly 3 PM. There's no way that I'll complain given what is happening in Florida but you can bet I'll be thinking about her every time a hunger pang or an urge to drink strikes. In some ways, I think all who are sitting on the fence about this issue or who think it humane to starve a human to death, ought to fast for one full 24 hour period.... no food, no water, no cheating... and then tell me that it's all a piece of cake. You now it isn't.
But I digress... as the post's title says, there's much out there that people ought to be reading to be better informed about Terri Schiavo's circumstances.
Gerard has some interesting insights as to Michael Shiavo's lawyer.
David provides this link to a timeline that is eye-opening and this moving account of a recent bed-side visit with Terri.
La Shawn is distressed as well by events and is looking for words of comfort (as many of us are I'm sure).
Roger wonders why they don't use a pillow and deny Terri air as well.
And Rush Limbaugh had some interesting insights and people on his show today. His site has this link to a must read affidavit given by Carla Sauer Iyer, a nurse who took care of Terri for nearly a year back in 1995.
That's it for now.
Do pray for Terri and her parents and siblings... and oh yes... pray for Michael too... I'm trying hard not to pray that he might soon find himself in the same boat as his wife... poetic justice...
Prayers to you on the surgery, Rick.
And, please, I hope you have an advance directive. I dodged a bullet without one, when I had hernia repair surgery last August. I really need to get one in place.
Prayers for Terri, too.
Posted by: Jeff H | Tuesday, March 22, 2005 at 11:45 PM
Surgery went ok Jeff... thanks for the prayers...
At home resting, under the influence of a couple of Darvocets...
They removed a lipoma, about the size of one of those jaw-breaker candies you pay a quarter for at the front of the grocery store... much bigger than I expected...
They'll pass that on to the lab for confirmation but the surgeon's pretty confident that it's merely a fatty-cell benign tumor...
And I'm Brutally Grateful...
Posted by: | Wednesday, March 23, 2005 at 05:29 PM
Surgery went ok Jeff... thanks for the prayers...
At home resting, under the influence of a couple of Darvocets...
They removed a lipoma, about the size of one of those jaw-breaker candies you pay a quarter for at the front of the grocery store... much bigger than I expected...
They'll pass that on to the lab for confirmation but the surgeon's pretty confident that it's merely a fatty-cell benign tumor...
And I'm Brutally Grateful...
Posted by: Rick | Wednesday, March 23, 2005 at 05:30 PM